Mindy Lynn Opper

Mindy Lynn Opper, beloved wife and mother, passed away unexpectedly on June 3, 2026, in Missoula, Montana.

 

Mindy was born on November 14th, 1956, into the most wonderful family - her parents Murray and Irma Opper and her older sister Freya - in Paterson New Jersey.  She always had fond memories of Paterson as a young girl. The family moved to Fair Lawn, New Jersey when Mindy was 9 years old.  Mindy went Fair Lawn High School where she met and made lifelong friendships.  Mindy and her friends were good students and cultivated their interest in protesting injustices they saw in the world around them during those formative years, guided by Irma’s sense of fighting back when you see inequality around you.  As with many young adults in the late 60s and early 70s, she and her friends were turning into classic hippies.  During this time period she would work for her father’s seat cover business doing office and clerical work after school.  This is also when she discovered her all time favorite band, the Grateful Dead, and would spend countless hours listening to their albums and attending their concerts throughout her life.

 

As a teenager and young adult, Mindy and her family traveled often.  Some highlights include trips to Israel, as well as spending some time backpacking around Europe with one of her closest friends Ruth.  They spent some time in Paris with her sister Freya, and almost a month in England.  Mindy had a huge love of travel and was very lucky to have been to some very cool places around the globe, and this love of exploration and traveling continued throughout her life.

 

Upon graduation from high school, Mindy enrolled at Arizona State University.  It was far enough away from her parents to be rebellious, but close enough to family in Tucson to be a safe and comfortable fit. Tempe, Arizona in the 70s was nothing like it is now, much smaller and much less structured.  Mindy thrived in Tempe and made some very close friends there.  It was there that she adopted her first dog Kesey, a huge malamute mix, who absolutely hated the Arizona heat.  During her first year at ASU, while home in Fair Lawn on spring break, she met through a mutual friend this guy named Bob who did construction, and they went on a few dates before she returned back to school.  She attended ASU between 1974-1979, pursuing a degree in zoology while also applying to their medical school as she was starting to get more of an interest in healing humans than animals.  By 1980, she had fallen in love with Bob, who had followed her out to Tempe shortly after their meeting, and she and Bob decided to pack up their lives and their multiple dogs and hop in an old step van and drive around the western half of the country together to find a place to put some roots down.  They would go from place to place, looking for the same 3 criteria, and then move on to the next.  After a three-month journey, they finally settled on 2 different places: Moscow, Idaho (Bob’s choice), and Missoula, Montana (Mindy’s choice).  They couldn’t come to agreement, so they did the grown-up thing and flipped a coin.  Mindy won and thus started their lives in what would grow to be their forever home, Missoula.

 

While Bob continued his career in construction, Mindy enrolled at the University of Montana in 1980 and continued her zoology degree until she graduated in 1983, which was also the year she married Bob.  While on a break from school, Mindy and Bob grew their small family and had a son, Eric, in 1986.  He was continually the light of Mindy’s life, and she absolutely adored her little family.  During those years, Mindy started working at the local Planned Parenthood as well as Blue Mountain Clinic doing office work and volunteering.  She returned to school in 1987 at the University of Washington in Seattle to pursue a career as a Physician Assistant.  After successfully completing her schooling and clinical hours, Mindy returned to Missoula in 1989 with a full certification as a Physician Assistant and was only the 37th P.A. in Montana to receive their license up to that point.  From her first job at Planned Parenthood, to the closing day of her own practice many years later, Mindy was incredibly dedicated to furthering women’s access to choice in healthcare, women’s wellbeing, and promoting safe and dedicated care spaces for women to get quality healthcare.  She was a fierce advocate for equal rights, choice, access to birth control for all people, and the improvement of every life around her.  Along the way she made many good friends at Blue Mountain Clinic, a place that was incredibly dear to her heart, and where she worked for many years providing quality healthcare for all people, as well as picking up a few awards for best medical practitioner in Missoula.  After many years working at Blue Mountain, Mindy went out on her own and opened her own practice, Prana Family Practice, where she provided general family healthcare, but also offered Ayurveda healing options as well.  Ayurveda was something Mindy found later in her career, but firmly believed in and wanted to help as many people as she could through these alternative techniques if they so chose.  After running her own practice for 10+ years, she finally decided to hang up the stethoscope and retire to spend more time with Bob and their dogs (Eric was living out of town at the time).

 

In retirement, she couldn’t sit still for long.  She got involved with many community organizations around Missoula, most of which were focused on helping others.  She was a fierce advocate for democracy, believed whole heartedly in the electoral process, and became an election judge for Missoula County.  She worked tirelessly before and during elections stuffing envelopes, helping advocate for candidates and informing people of their options, and counting ballots when election nights happened.  She also travelled with Bob often, including many trips to Italy, their favorite destination.  Many a wonderful night was spent on Gianni and Magda’s farm in Pienza, and some of their favorite memories together are from these trips.

 

Mindy had a great respect for the goddess nature in all things and was a yoga and meditation practitioner and a committed member of the Missoula Har Shalom community.  Her friends and family find comfort in knowing she has now found the answers and peace she has long sought.

 

These are all just facts about Mindy’s life.  It barely begins to scratch the surface of what an amazing, loving person she was.  She always advocated for those less fortunate and always called out corruption and bad actors wherever she saw them.  If there was a protest, you can bet she was there, and most likely helped organize it.  She was fierce in her love for her family and friends and was always there with a hug or advice or simply to listen when anyone needed it.  There’s no sufficient way to express what a loss to this entire community her passing is, so I’ll simply say this: she wouldn’t want any of us to be sad, she would want us all to support each other and our neighbors.  She would want her memory to be celebrated by hugs for the people you care most about.  She would want us all to work harder to make the world a better and more equitable place.  And she loved us all.  We will miss her greatly. 

 

Mindy is survived by her husband Bob Holman and her son Eric Holman-Opper of Missoula, Montana, her sister Freya Opper Weissner and her niece Kristin Marshall of Phoenix, Arizona, her niece Alexandra Weissner of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and her cousins Pat and Jim Herrewig of Sierra Vista, Arizona, and many, many friends. 

 

A Celebration of Life will be held at Mindy and Bob’s home at 1635 South 12th Street West, Missoula, Montana, on August 1, 2026, at 3 p.m.  In lieu of gifts, flowers, or remembrances, please make a donation to Blue Mountain Clinic in her name.